Last 3 months headlines – Page 1302

  • News

    Public will pay the price for insurers' costs plans

    2011-10-13T00:00:00Z

    by Susan Brown, a director at Prolegal Insurers tell us they are committed to ‘paying genuine claimants the compensation they are entitled to’ (‘Tackling the Compensation Culture’, Association of British Insurers, 5 September).

  • News

    A purrfect stretch

    2011-10-13T00:00:00Z

    Obiter is as fond as the next person of a bit of word play, but from the point where there was ‘fur flying’ in the fight between the home and justice secretaries over the cat that had human rights (or not), it was ...

  • News

    OFR provides a sound framework for the future

    2011-10-13T00:00:00Z

    Last week marked a major landmark for every solicitor and law firm that we regulate. On 6 October our old, prescriptive rule book became history. With outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) we will focus on the issues that really matter and which suit the fast-paced, modern and liberalised legal services market. ...

  • News

    Employment

    2011-10-13T00:00:00Z

    Pay - Statutory minimum - Employee working as temporary pub manager Wray v JW Lees & Co (Brewers) Ltd: Employment Appeal Tribunal (Mr Justice Underhill, Mrs R Chapman, Dr K Mohanty): 14 July 2011 ...

  • News

    Djanogly encourages claims managers to team up with solicitors

    2011-10-13T00:00:00Z

    Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly is content to see claims management companies (CMCs) forge closer ties with solicitors once the referral fee ban for personal injury cases has been introduced. Speaking at a Commons transport committee meeting on Tuesday on the cost of motor insurance, Djanogly said ...

  • News

    Insurance

    2011-10-13T00:00:00Z

    Warranty - Breach - Claimant's tug insured by defendant and two others P.T. Buana Samudra Pratama v Marine Mutual Insurance Association (NZ) Ltd: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Teare): 29 September 2011 ...

  • News

    Mental Health

    2011-10-13T00:00:00Z

    Persons who lack capacity - Best interest - European Convention on Human Rights Re M: CoP (Mr Justice Baker): 28 September 2011 The applicant, W, was the mother of M, ...

  • News

    Lawyers condemn single contract law

    2011-10-12T00:00:00Z

    Europe neither needs nor can afford the EU-wide single contract law proposed by the European Commission this week, solicitors have warned. Frank Tschentscher, insolvency and re-structuring partner at German firm Schultze & Braun said: ‘Brussels is suggesting bolting on a new 28th law to the 27 ...

  • News

    Liam Fox finds his inner lawyer

    2011-10-12T00:00:00Z

    Politicians, especially when in government, find lawyers and the law make good knocking copy. As my colleague John Hyde reported in a blog from the Conservative Party Conference, MP Ben Gummer was more colloquial than most in telling solicitors to ‘get real’ and stop ‘irresponsible’ opposition to government plans on ...

  • News

    Jackson calls for action on contingency legal aid fund

    2011-10-11T00:00:00Z

    The ‘time is ripe for action’ on creating a Contingency Legal Aid Fund (CLAF), according to Lord Justice Jackson, architect of the government’s reforms of civil litigation costs. ‘There is clearly a strong will among many in the legal profession to make such a scheme work,’ he said. ...

  • News

    Is partnership still the holy grail?

    2011-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Partnership in law firms used to be the holy grail that all lawyers aspired to. Years of hard graft and thankless toil led to the reward and status of becoming a partner. That look of respect and admiration at parties in reply to the question ‘what do you do?’ was ...

  • News

    Two steps forward, one step back

    2011-10-10T00:00:00Z

    Let us have a party about two pieces of good news. There is not a lot of that around at present, for the legal profession or anyone else. And then we will give a loud boo to the bad news.

  • News

    This is our final OFR

    2011-10-10T00:00:00Z

    Paul Rogerson talks to SRA chief executive Antony Townsend about the implementation of outcomes-focused regulation in a rapidly changing legal services market.

  • News

    Family crisis

    2011-10-10T00:00:00Z

    The government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will reach committee stage on the 11th October 2011. Following the consultation on legal aid earlier this year the government received over 5,000 responses in relation to plans to remove legal aid from large areas of the law.

  • News

    Dublin assures Law Society on Quinn collapse

    2011-10-10T00:00:00Z

    The Irish government has assured the Law Society that solicitors will not be affected by the transfer of some of the business of Quinn Insurance. More than 500 solicitors have run-off professional indemnity insurance cover with the Irish firm, which went into administration last year. ...

  • News

    Firms call off Anglo-Scottish merger

    2011-10-10T00:00:00Z

    An Anglo-Scottish merger between firms Bircham Dyson Bell and Dundas & Wilson has been ruled out. In a joint statement today, the firms said exploratory discussions to create a practice with combined revenues of £100m had not been successful. Donald Shaw, ...

  • News

    CPS to go paperless by April, says Starmer

    2011-10-07T00:00:00Z

    The Director of Public Prosecutions has committed to making the Crown Prosecution Service entirely digital by April 2012. Keir Starmer QC told a Law Society seminar that the criminal justice system needs to move away from a paper-based system and transform the way criminal cases are ...

  • News

    Advocacy assurance scheme put on hold for a month

    2011-10-07T00:00:00Z

    The launch of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) has been delayed and the consultation on its design extended, the Joint Advocacy Group (JAG) announced today. The JAG, set up with representatives of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and ILEX Professional Services ...

  • News

    Clarke to consult on competitive tendering

    2011-10-07T00:00:00Z

    The justice secretary has confirmed that the government will publish a consultation on the introduction of competitive tendering for criminal defence services this year. In a letter to the Bar Council chair Peter Lodder QC, Kenneth Clarke sets out the government’s intention to press ahead with ...

  • News

    Fees

    2011-10-06T00:00:00Z

    Solicitor - Retainer - Dispute over fees Hodge Jones & Allen v McLaughlin: Queen's Bench Division (Michael Harvey QC sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court): 23 September 2011 ...